Even as the Saradha scam investigation is yielding more arrests, the Supreme Court on Friday reiterated its commitment to bring to justice the perpetrators of multicrore ponzi scams spread across several States and hauled up regulators such as the RBI and the SEBI
for turning a “blind eye.”
“These regulators turned a blind eye. These people were supposed to be watchdogs, but they let this happen, including the RBI. Remember, there is nothing that can be left out of our scope [of jurisdiction],” Justice T.S. Thakur, who headed the Bench, orally observed.
The hearing came on a petition filed by Subir Dey, represented by senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, for a CBI investigation into ponzi scams involving over 90 companies, which allegedly collected Rs. 1,000 crore from small investors and then duped them.
These chit fund schemes, which are not part of the Saradha scam, spread across West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Tripura and neighbouring States.
The Bench asked the petitioner to approach the Central Bureau of Investigation, which was already investigating chit fund scams covering these States in the light of the Supreme Court’s May 9, 2014 judgment.
“We have made it clear to the CBI that it will have to investigate the cases which have been transferred to it,” Justice Thakur observed.
So far, three Trinamool Congress leaders have been arrested in the Saradha chit fund scam.
‘Litigation the worst option’Mediation should not be seen as a mere “alternative” to litigation but as a central tool of dispute resolution, the Chief Justice of the Singapore Supreme Court Sundaresh Menon said here on Friday.
Justice Menon, here to participate in the Asia Pacific International Mediation Summit, said the government had played a very important role in mainstreaming mediation in Singapore, by working it into government contracts and even legislation.
“We should not see Alternative Dispute Resolution as inferior or a consolation or compromise, compared to litigation in courts. As a lawyer, I always regarded litigation as the worst possible option,” said Justice Menon.
‘Part of our culture’“To many of us in Asia, litigation is not traditionally the conventional response to dispute. Involvement of respected members of community committed to restoring peace and finding resolution, is central to many of our cultures,” he said.
Drawing from the Singapore experience, Justice Menon said mediation (and other forms of ADR) were no longer seen as alternatives to the court process but as “necessary elements of this process.”
“Once we do this, we will increase and enhance access to justice... people see that access to justice need not be found only in the traditional formal setting of a grand courtroom,” he said.
After taking charge as the CJ of the Singapore SC, he put in place ADR-centred reforms for the family justice process and small claims settlements.
“We take the most intimate form of human relationship, a family, know that it’s already stressed and then choose to subject it to an adversarial process with lawyers who see each other as fighters...when around the world the family lawyer is being seen as a constructive problem solving agent,” he said.
Following the reforms, said Justice Menon, Singapore chose a “less adversarial” judge-led processes opposed to a lawyer-led one.
Besides, in family justice cases, the judge is routinely assisted by a psychologist or a social worker.
For small claims in Singapore, where 80 per cent civil cases involved sums less than $ 60,000, Mr. Justice Menon said he realised that traditional court process were not workable as they cost more than the sums involved.
The reformed process, he said, entailed a compulsory process of negotiation and mediation.
In Singapore, growth of ADR resulted from the government recognising it and the judiciary embracing it.
Distinct thaw in India-Pakistan tiesPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s talk with his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, on Friday has significance beyond cricket-related bonhomie in the SAARC region. To begin with, Pakistan is the only SAARC country that India does not have a dialogue process with at present.
Asked if the proposed visit by the Foreign Secretary to Pakistan meant a resumption of dialogue, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, “Bilateral issues would be discussed.”
While relations with Pakistan have been tense over the cancellation of talks, repeated ceasefire violations along the Line of Control that led to the deaths of several soldiers, and Pakistan’s refusal to crack down on Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, sources said there had been a distinct thaw in the atmosphere in the past month.
Mr. Modi set it off when he made a telephone call to Mr. Sharif after the Peshawar school massacre. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval delivered a supportive message to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.
The Hindu has learnt that in late December, Mr. Basit met Mr. Doval to discuss the possibility of resuming talks. On Wednesday, the govern-ment, for the first time, sent a Minister, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, to Islamabad to attend a meeting on the ‘TAPI’ gas pipeline that was chaired by Mr. Sharif. Mr. Pradhan met with Mr. Sharif separately too.
MoEF accepts some HLC recommendationsMinistry looks to appoint consultant to draft two new laws
The controversial report of the High-Level Committee (HLC) led by the former Cabinet Secretary, T.S.R. Subramanian, seems to have been partially accepted by the Union Ministry of Environment and it is looking to appoint a technical consultant to draft two new laws.
Official sources said hiring a consultant was the best way to go about implementing some of the 55 recommendations.
Some of the administrative recommendations have been accepted even as the report is being considered by the Ministry. Sources said recommendations with legal implications were being examined by the Ministry. The HLC report has suggested that some laws can be amalgamated, which would be done by the consultant while the Ministry is looking at laws that needed refinement.
The HLC has made important observations and 55 recommendations, according to an advertisement on the Ministry’s website.
Rift in censor board over use of ‘bad words’CBFC chief lists out words and phrases that are objectionable and abusive
The Central Board of Film Certification on Friday witnessed a minor internal rift after a member publicly criticised the statutory body for releasing a list of words and references that it wanted banned from films.
In a circular sent out to CBFC regional offices (ROs), board chairman Pahlaj Nihalani has listed out words and phrases that he feels are objectionable and abusive, and need to be deleted from films.
“It has been noticed that some of the objectionable words/abusive words are still to be deleted from films,” read the order, which was also copied to all producer associations.
The circular also directs all ROs to not allow the use of such words in “any category of certificate” and mentions that the standard applied to even regional languages. The banned words include English and Hindi references.
While social media burst into taunts and criticism accusing Mr. Pahlani of dealing a blow to “free speech,” unexpected censure came from a board member, Ashok Pandit. Objecting to the list of words ‘not to be used in film’ issued by Mr. Nihalani, Mr. Pandit called it “against the freedom and creative liberty of a filmmaker.” Mr. Pandit tweeted: “as a Filmmaker & #CBFC board member do not endorse the list issued by the Chairperson On words not to be used in films. I ws nt consulted.”
The list also includes the notification to change the name Bombay to Mumbai as per the Government of Maharashtra notification in 1996. The nomenclature of Maximum City was recently in the news as the previous Censor Board under Leela Samson had deleted the word ‘Bombay’ from an English song by artiste Mihir Joshi.
“The notes will be printed by the Government of India,” the RBI said in a press release. “These currency notes are legal tender as provided in The Coinage Act 2011,” it added. The note will contain the bilingual signature of Rajiv Mehrishi, Finance Secretary.
Yet another plea challenges NJACA fifth petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) meant to replace the two-decades-old Collegium system of judicial appointments to the highest courts.
Four other petitions against the NJAC Act, 2014, and the Constitution (121st Amendment) Bill, 2014, the latter giving the Commission constitutional status, were filed in January this year in the Supreme Court, but are yet to be listed for hearing.
The petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, through counsel Prashant Bhushan, said the NJAC violated the basic structure of the Constitution.
It contended that only a full-time body which functioned with transparency could make proper appointments and the current NJAC was neither full time nor transparent.
“Selecting more than 100 judges of the higher judiciary every year [from among thousands of potential candidates] in a rational and fair manner is an onerous task requiring a full-time and not an ex-officio body,” the petition said.
It argued that the political executive seemed not interested in creating an independent full-time body as existed in the United Kingdom to select judicial appointees.
The petition argued that judicial integrity, independence and review were part of the basic structure of the Constitution and to ensure them, the “best persons” should be appointed judges.
IS to be banned under UAPAThe Union Home Ministry may soon issue a notification banning Islamic State, a terror outfit, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
“It has been proposed to ban the IS, which was earlier known as Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). A notification may be issued soon,” said a Home Ministry official.
The outfit has already been proscribed in India, as it is listed in the Schedule to the United Nations Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council Resolutions) Order.
“The notification will explicitly put the outfit on the list of banned organisations,” the official said.
Retailers hit by ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’A just-released study from Yale University points out that corruption and lower enforcement reduces adoption of productivity-enhancing technology among retailers in India. The Yale study was based on a survey of 1,948 Indian retailers, who are part of a $500 billion industry that is growing at 8-10 per cent per annum.
It found that firms tended to remain small to avoid transparency, a result of more technology, and thus avoid the risk of getting slapped with higher taxes and more regulation.
K. Sudhir and Debabrata Talukdar, Professors of Management at Yale University and the State University of New York, respectively, write in the report: “Technology adoption is lower when there is greater corruption, but higher when there is better enforcement and auditing.” They dub this the ‘Peter Pan Syndrome,’ a reference to the fictional character that never grows up. Here, firms prefer to stay small.
According to economic theory, firms make investments in technology to increase productivity. But in emerging markets such as India, where a “culture of informality” is widespread, businesses fear IT as it removes the “veil of secrecy” around business practices that are conducive for tax evasion.
With increased transparency, it is easier for the government to collect taxes and enforce regulatory compliance by bringing these transactions into the formal sector, potentially increasing the cost of operations for those who use IT systems relative to those who don’t.
In countries where “enforcement is patchy and corruption is rampant,” firms who keep much of their transactions in the informal sector can therefore gain a competitive advantage, the study found.
Professors Sudhir and Talukdar believe governments and policy makers could benefit from realising that “forceful enforcement and corruption reduction can not only have a direct positive impact on tax collection, but also an indirect positive impact on the tax revenue base.”
This would occur through the greater productivity induced by the use of modern efficiency enhancing technologies in the IT sphere, and by bringing more businesses into the transparent formal sector.
They note that “Indian retailers can and should break out of the self-defeating confines of the beliefs about the profitability of tax evasion,” thus avoiding the “informality trap of lower productivity.
However, curing the Peter Pan Syndrome would require the government to improve the business environment to be free from corruption, and enhance the level and consistency of enforcement.
As India opens up its markets to multinational, multi-brand retail, the need to increase productivity becomes even greater for domestic retailer survival, the study argues.
According to the RBI, the foreign currency assets as on February 6 stood at $304.4 billion as compared to $303.3 billion in the previous week.
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